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LLLActive@GMX.Net schreef:
Hi all,
In the past I had problems when updating an existing SUSE installation to a newer version (I think it was 8.0 to 8.3 back then). I therefore had to do a clean install, and then having to do all the setups for all the other things I had on the older version like Evolution. It is becoming quit a laborious exercise if there are a dozen or so stations to be updated. Is it advisable to update the present SUSE 10.0 systems to SUSE 10.1, and later to 10.2 in stead of each time a new install? Any experiences welcome.
Well the universal answer to a question like this is: it depends. It depends mostly on what you have installed *on top* of the vanilla system. If you always went with a standard choice (be it default or expert) and have installed nothing extra but a few applications I'd say back up home and install a new system. If on the other hand you have customized your system a great deal it could be a good thing (tm) to upgrade. The trouble with that is, that you'll run into a lot of dependency problems and unfortunately the yast suggestions to handle these are mostly nonsensical. Especially they are nonsensical with respect to third party software that is declared taboo *ipso facto* even if there is a Suse upgrade available. So in that case you should know what you're doing. If you have no idea what you should do in the face of dependency problems in an upgrade you should do a new install. Also you should check configuration files that *should be* changed by the new install, but in fact won't be (also a Good Thing). I include a list of tips that I composed for upgrading from SuSE 9.0 to 9.3, but quite a few of them are generic. YMMV of course, and warranty up to the front door. :-) Traps and tips for upgrading to Suse 9.3 * Backup /home and other vital data * Never ever leave a conflict unresolved. In principle unprotect rather than remove. * After installation install all on-line updates including the multimedia patches. * If you want all video codecs still get libxine1 from packman. If you don't, DivX 5 doesn't work and maybe more. * Reconfigure your sound card. * If you upgrade from a 2.4 kernel run /sbin/lsusb. If nothing shows up whereas you have some peripherals on usb ports, check fstab for a line containing usbdevfs. Replace it with: usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0 * Run /etc/init.d/rpmconfigcheck and update config files if necessary (Admin guide pg 128-129) * Remove /var/lib/pin/ARCHIVES.gz and rerun pin. Finally: I once tried to upgrade from 7.2 to 9.0 and that was a disaster, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing wrt to the dependency conflicts. Older and wiser I upgraded from 9.0 to 9.3 and that went quite well apart from a few minor glitches. Since 9.3 has been rock solid and I haven't obtained any new hardware recently I haven't upgraded since. So I can't tell you about the idiosyncrasies of 10.0 and 10.1. Regards, -- Jos van Kan registered Linux user #152704 "They say that a little knowledge is dangerous, but it isn't half as bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett, Equal rites